Effect of school-based income generating activities on the financial performance of public secondary schools in Kenya
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Date
2013-06Author
Odundo, Paul A
Rambo, Charles M
Language
enMetadata
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This study was conducted to determin
e the value added by Income-Genera
ting Activities (IGAs) on the financial
performance of public secondary schools, in terms of asse
ts, liability portfolio, and net worth. Secondary school
managers have the gigantic task of
balancing meager resources between subsistence and development needs as well
as good performance in national
examinations. However, macro-economic shoc
ks such as inflation, fuel shortage,
and crop failure, among others, often militate against the
success of public schools. School-based IGAs enable
public schools to cope with external economic shocks, w
ithout necessarily passing down budgetary adjustments to
parents. However, the country lacks
a clear policy guideline to facilitate th
e initiation, management, accounting,
reviewing, and financial reporting of IGA projects. Besi
des, there is no documente
d information regarding the
value added by IGA initiatives to the financial performa
nce of public secondary schools. The study found that IGA
and non-IGA schools were significantly diffe
rent in terms of category, student
population, age, annual income, and
number of paid workers. Schools having IGAs were 1.9 tim
es more likely to own as many assets as schools not
having IGAs. Besides, IGA sch
ools were about 2.2 times less
likely to have their liability in excess of the median
threshold. Regarding net worth, the study found that sc
hools having IGAs were about 2.
1 times more likely to be
operating above the median threshold;
suggesting that schools having IGAs we
re wealthier than non-IGA schools.
Based on the findings, this study concludes that IGA project
s were beneficial to schools
by improving the ability of
schools to accumulate assets and manage their liabilities. The study recommends the need to: formulate an
appropriate policy framework to guide and standardize I
GA activities; initiate suitable training programs for school
IGA managers; as well as engage
business development managers to
advice schools on IGA matters.
URI
http://www.davidpublishing.com/davidpublishing/Upfile/8/23/2013/2013082307480878.pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/11295/80925
Citation
Chinese Business Review, ISSN 1537-1506 June 2013, Vol. 12, No. 6, 375-394Publisher
University of Nairobi